Cycles of Risk
People who grew up in precarious home environments are more likely to raise children in similar contexts, although that’s not necessarily their intention. The risk factors associated with homelessness are especially dangerous in this way; they get passed down generationally. Studies have found a strong relationship between the amount of childhood maltreatment and family dysfunction that homeless parents experienced and the amount that their children were experiencing. Poverty has also been also associated with child maltreatment, indicating that young people are growing up exposed to the same risks their homeless parents did.
For example, women who were abused as children are more likely to become targets for violence as adults through no fault of their own. If they have children with abusive partners, then their children are at risk for poverty, abuse, residential instability, foster care placement, and many other predictors of future homelessness, creating a cycle of risk that’s extremely difficult to break out of.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
The Toiletries Delivery is enabling a couple of our HACA members to build, test, and develop a toiletries delivery service that fills the gaps they see in the existing homelessness system. This process is helping us understand how we can proactively enable people experiencing homelessness to help themselves by developing opportunities for them to help their community.
Most homeless services are concentrated downtown, but some people would rather give up services than enter the downtown area. They put themselves at risk of:
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getting ticketed by the police,
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relapsing,
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getting into fights or trouble,
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or becoming a victim of violence, theft, and sexual assault.
For those who do go downtown, they must create a personal strategy just to try and stay safe.
Quotes from people with lived experience:
Jamie says that shelters are "like a zoo. I'd rather sleep on a park bench."
Tina says the shelters have "too many bed bugs, too many roaches, too many fights."
"Outside of the ARCH, there are no rules...drugs, fighting, competition...it's Hell on Earth."
- Angela
"I've never seen anything like this...[EMS] picking up dead bodies because of K2."
- Roberto
